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Thriving or Threatened? Perspectives on the State of U.S. Manufacturing in a Global Economy

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Location
Auditorium/Wintergarden
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Featuring
Featuring: Lewis Leibowitz, Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition; Lloyd Wood, American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition; Robert Scott, Economic Policy Institute; and Dan Ikenson, Cato Institute.

Since the depth of the U.S. manufacturing recession in 2002, the sector as a whole has experienced sustained and robust growth. The year 2006 set a record for output, revenues, profits, profit rates, return on investment, exports, and imports. The United States remains the world’s most prolific manufacturing country, accounting for two and a half times more output than Chinese factories in 2006. Should these figures put to rest assertions that the U.S. manufacturing sector is eroding because of trade? Do they support a conclusion that the sector is thriving? Four experts on U.S. manufacturing will offer differing perspectives on the real state of U.S. manufacturing in today’s global economy.